A Family Support System

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God loveth his brother also.

I John

(4:19-21)

Daily Bread

04/28/2012

A family support system

A Christian Science perspective on daily life.

Throughout the nation, families of all blends are grappling to some degree with these thoughts of uncertainty. It raises the question of what it means to be a family and how to care for one another in times of need.

Trusting God and knowing that He wants the best for us is not mere positive thinking. It rests on the spiritual fact of God’s love, manifest through a neighbor sharing some food, a friend volunteering to take care of one’s children, a co-worker giving someone a ride to work, a spouse helping out with extra chores, a friend sharing some outgrown clothes, and many more unexpected blessings.

Since the traditional nuclear family has become less common over recent decades, many people have found a broader sense of family, including other relatives, friends, and neighbors. This less rigid, less traditional concept of kinship opens us up to share in a broader way that hints at a divine context.

Mary Baker Eddy, who founded this newspaper and whose study of the Bible helped her overcome many dark moments as a single parent in great financial need, wrote, “Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 332). Each one of us is God’s spiritual creation, so we’re connected to one another in a very significant way. And prayer to feel more of this divine kinship brings a deeper understanding of who we are as part of this universal family.

Regardless of the degree to which families are or are not encountering economic challenges, everyone is united through our relation to “one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love” (Science and Health, p. 577). Instead of self-contained family units, we can all reach out and reap the benefits of a more tolerant, inclusive, and spiritual concept of family. This finds us with open hearts and arms, truly inspired. Your Father-Mother God cares for you unfailingly.